Farr said the board directed a tax payment be made of about $175,000 about six weeks ago.

"This wouldn't even be an issue if certain people paid their rent," he said Tuesday.

He said the board is trying to manage its priorities, which include legal fees, maintaining their services and paying taxes.

"We are not ignoring any of them," he said. "As a responsible councillor and board member, I feel we are living up to our fiduciary responsibility."

The trust has racked up "many, many thousands of dollars" in "unaccounted for" legal fees, Farr said.

HWT has been locked in a $15-million legal battle that waterfront eatery Sarcoa launched against the trust and the city in late 2015 for preventing it from throwing patio parties with amplified music.

The trust began its life with a $6.3-million endowment to settle a lawsuit by the City of Hamilton that contended it hadn't been properly compensated by the former Hamilton Harbour Commission for its share of port profits dating back decades.

But the seed money has run out and the trust's revenues now come from capital project funding from other levels of government and sales from the various businesses that the trust operates around the western end of the harbourfront.

In the past, the trust has struggled to stay out of the red.

As the Spectator reported in 2015, HWT lost money for seven years straight, about $2.5 million from 2007 to 2014.

Councillors signed off on a staff-recommended $137,500 bailout of the arms-length agency for 2015.

Coun. Tom Jackson, who is also a HWT board member, said at the time the one-time grant addressed "an immediate need" for the trust, which runs tour boats, a rink, waterfront trail trolley and leases property to harbour businesses such as Williams Fresh Café and the Sarcoa restaurant. Only the rink operation receives annual city funding.

Farr said the board directed a tax payment be made of about $175,000 about six weeks ago.

"This wouldn't even be an issue if certain people paid their rent," he said Tuesday.

He said the board is trying to manage its priorities, which include legal fees, maintaining their services and paying taxes.

"We are not ignoring any of them," he said. "As a responsible councillor and board member, I feel we are living up to our fiduciary responsibility."

The trust has racked up "many, many thousands of dollars" in "unaccounted for" legal fees, Farr said.

HWT has been locked in a $15-million legal battle that waterfront eatery Sarcoa launched against the trust and the city in late 2015 for preventing it from throwing patio parties with amplified music.

The trust began its life with a $6.3-million endowment to settle a lawsuit by the City of Hamilton that contended it hadn't been properly compensated by the former Hamilton Harbour Commission for its share of port profits dating back decades.

But the seed money has run out and the trust's revenues now come from capital project funding from other levels of government and sales from the various businesses that the trust operates around the western end of the harbourfront.

In the past, the trust has struggled to stay out of the red.

As the Spectator reported in 2015, HWT lost money for seven years straight, about $2.5 million from 2007 to 2014.

Councillors signed off on a staff-recommended $137,500 bailout of the arms-length agency for 2015.

Coun. Tom Jackson, who is also a HWT board member, said at the time the one-time grant addressed "an immediate need" for the trust, which runs tour boats, a rink, waterfront trail trolley and leases property to harbour businesses such as Williams Fresh Café and the Sarcoa restaurant. Only the rink operation receives annual city funding.

Farr said the board directed a tax payment be made of about $175,000 about six weeks ago.

"This wouldn't even be an issue if certain people paid their rent," he said Tuesday.

He said the board is trying to manage its priorities, which include legal fees, maintaining their services and paying taxes.

"We are not ignoring any of them," he said. "As a responsible councillor and board member, I feel we are living up to our fiduciary responsibility."

The trust has racked up "many, many thousands of dollars" in "unaccounted for" legal fees, Farr said.

HWT has been locked in a $15-million legal battle that waterfront eatery Sarcoa launched against the trust and the city in late 2015 for preventing it from throwing patio parties with amplified music.

The trust began its life with a $6.3-million endowment to settle a lawsuit by the City of Hamilton that contended it hadn't been properly compensated by the former Hamilton Harbour Commission for its share of port profits dating back decades.

But the seed money has run out and the trust's revenues now come from capital project funding from other levels of government and sales from the various businesses that the trust operates around the western end of the harbourfront.

In the past, the trust has struggled to stay out of the red.

As the Spectator reported in 2015, HWT lost money for seven years straight, about $2.5 million from 2007 to 2014.

Councillors signed off on a staff-recommended $137,500 bailout of the arms-length agency for 2015.

Coun. Tom Jackson, who is also a HWT board member, said at the time the one-time grant addressed "an immediate need" for the trust, which runs tour boats, a rink, waterfront trail trolley and leases property to harbour businesses such as Williams Fresh Café and the Sarcoa restaurant. Only the rink operation receives annual city funding.